Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1813. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of times he and-or officials from his Department met with Coillte regarding forestry licences in 2022; the dates of those meetings; the participants; the agenda; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63969/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In relation to meetings specific to licences, my officials held approximately 45 meetings directly with Coillte in relation to felling licences.  These normally covered a discussion around the licences issued the previous week, licence projections for the coming week, Natura Impact Statements (NISs) submitted by Coillte the previous week by Coillte and the NISs to be submitted in the coming week by Coillte.  

In addition my officials held approximately 38 meetings in relation to Coillte forest roads licences.  These meetings mostly dealt with both sides updating on the progress of individual applications. I understand these were largely technical meetings between my Forestry Inspectorate staff and professional staff from Coillte.

There has been continued high output in forestry licencing in 2022, with considerable reductions in the backlog of forestry licences and another significant year-on-year increase in the number of licences issued.

In 2022 my Department issued 1,200 more licences than applications received.  In total my Department issued 4,713 licences which was 90% of our targeted output. Most of these licences were for the private sector.

The total volume of wood licenced in 2022 was over 9.5 million cubic metres, which significantly exceeds the COFORD forecast of just over 4 million cubic metres.  This is the second year in a row that the volume licenced is more than double the annual forecasted volume to be harvested.  

Both Coillte and the private sector are receiving sufficient felling licences to ensure employment is not affected.  

In 2022, 1,607 felling licences were issued to the private sector and 1,686 felling licences were issued to Coillte.